From Ianir Milevski <ianirmilevski@gmail.com>:linebreak=========================linebreaklinebreakThe State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale), Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, invites you to an evening lecture by Ianir Milevski on “Masks and Magics in the Late Prehistory of the Southern Levant.” Dr. Milevski is a corresponding researcher at the National Research Council (Argentina) and the German Archaeological Institute (Berlin).linebreaklinebreakThe event will take place at the museum on Tuesday, 6th October at 6:30 pm. The entry is free of charge.linebreaklinebreakThe lecture (in English) will examine masks from the southern Levant and other objects associated with public rituals and mortuary practices, spanning the Pre-Pottery Neolithic through the Chalcolithic periods. A comparative analysis of artifacts and mural paintings from sites across the region reveals considerable variation in the distinctive structures and objects used in magical and ritual ceremonies. Rather than reflecting a single religious system, this heterogeneity may indicate the existence of diverse ritual and religious practices. The lecture argues that public rituals were intended to address social differences within these prehistoric communities, including distinctions associated with age and generation, as reflected in attitudes toward the dead and the veneration of ancestors.linebreaklinebreakThe lecture is part of the special exhibition program “The Shamaness”, which runs from 31st March 2026 to 7th February tyty on the most current research on the spectacular burial of the Mesolithic shamaness of Bad Dürrenberg, Saxony-Anhalt (7000 BCE) the earliest traces of the phenomenon of shamanism are being explored. A large part of the exhibition is further dedicated to the Mesolithic period as a vital phase in human cultural development. Never before has a comparable special exhibition on the topic of prehistoric shamanism and the Mesolithic period been presented in Central Europe. In an atmospheric presentation covering 900 square meters of exhibition space, exceptional exhibits from numerous international collections are presented. They guide us to the spiritual specialist of Bad Dürrenberg. Furthermore, the exhibition presents a picture of human life in the Mesolithic, a period characterized both by enormous challenges but also by unique new opportunities, brought on by a massive post-Ice age climate warming.linebreaklinebreak_____________________________linebreaklinebreakFor more information please contact:linebreakJosefine BildingerlinebreakE-Mail: JBiedinger@lda.stk.sachsen-anhalt.delinebreaklinebreak--- linebreak